March/April 2005
Norm Kramer has been both a scrap processor and an equipment manufacturer in his long career. No wonder he knows “all the angles of the business,” as one friend puts it.
By Si Wakesberg
Norm Kramer’s face should be familiar to anyone who has attended a convention held by ReMA or its predecessor associations—ISIS and NARI—in the past three decades. That’s because Kramer chaired the exhibitors committee for those groups for 30 years, with his long reign just ending in 2002. What’s more, he also chaired the exposition group for the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) for a decade, from 1974-1984.
“Norm is the ultimate equipment maven,” states one scrap dealer. “What would a convention be without him?” What indeed? Kramer estimates that he and his wife, Happy, have attended every national convention of ReMA and its predecessors from 1967 to 2003. “And my wife and I have missed only one ReMA Gulf Coast Chapter convention in that same period,” he adds.
In addition to his long leadership of the industry’s exhibitions, Kramer holds the distinction of being a veteran of both the scrap processing business and the equipment manufacturing world. This dual experience makes him uniquely qualified to understand the flow of scrap, how it’s handled, how it can be processed, and what scrap consumers need from processors and processing equipment. No wonder a scrap company executive says, “More than anyone else I know, Norm knows all the angles of the business.” Here, we catch up with Kramer—at 80, a spry, active, articulate, and warm personality—at his home in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., to discuss the many angles of his long and impressive scrap and manufacturing careers.
A Scrap Career After All
When Norman Kramer was born in Chicago in 1924, his father was in the auto-wrecking business. In 1939, his dad bought a scrap company—East Chicago Iron & Metal—located in nearby East Chicago, Ind. A couple of years later, though, his father suffered a heart attack and was unable to continue running the business. This unfortunate event forced Kramer—then a 17-year-old high-school senior—to immerse himself in the scrap world. “Every day I’d get out of school, grab the car, and drive the distance to the plant to join my sister in running the company operations,” he recounts. “We did that for over a year.”
At the time, scrap was a dirty, laborious business, Kramer says, recalling how he had to load railcars by pushing material up a ramp in a wheelbarrow and dumping the scrap into the car. “It was a rough, rough business, and I decided I wanted nothing to do with scrap at that point,” he recalls. As a result, Kramer and his sister decided to sell the family business.
After graduating from high school in 1941, Kramer started attending the Central YMCA junior college in Chicago, going to school at night and working at Chicago Title & Trust in the day. Military service from 1943-1946 interrupted his college career, however. Kramer started out in infantry officer candidate school, but he injured his knee and was assigned to limited service. He was then assigned to a military intelligence unit and was stationed in South Korea.
After his discharge, Kramer picked up his education track on the GI Bill, attending Roosevelt University in Chicago. Events also conspired to lure him back into the scrap business. Here’s what happened: In 1947, Kramer’s brother-in-law—who owned Englewood Iron & Metal Co. in Chicago—dropped a weight on his foot and was unable to work. To help out, Kramer worked at the company in the day and went to school at night, ultimately earning an accounting degree in 1950.
As it turned out, Kramer liked his second taste of the scrap industry much better than his first. He ended up staying at Englewood Iron & Metal and became its president in the 1950s. While there, Kramer became active in association work, primarily with the Chicago Chapter of ISIS. He even chaired various committees for the chapter, including membership and operations.
In 1967, Englewood Iron went out of business when it “waged a war against a local Chicago truck-driver’s union,” Kramer notes, adding wryly, “Imagine who won that one.”
Into the Equipment Business
After Englewood Iron & Metal closed, it was time for Kramer to find another career. During his scrap days, he had seen an automobile crusher—a hydraulic car-flattening machine invented by Robert Flanagan—and was impressed with its potential. In 1965, Flanagan and Kramer founded a company called Mobile Auto Crushers Inc. to capitalize on that potential. With this step, Kramer entered the equipment manufacturing business, where he stayed for the remainder of his working career.
Though the early days were slow for Mobile Auto Crushers, its sales eventually gained momentum, thanks largely to the demand for flattened car hulks from the increasing number of automobile shredders. In 1969, the Kramers moved from Chicago to the Dallas area, where Mobile Auto Crushers was based, first in Irving, then in Grand Prairie. In 1971, the company was sold to Woods Corp., a company with stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange, though Kramer remained involved as assistant to the president.
Over the years, Mobile Auto Crushers experienced a lot of both change and growth. In 1974, for instance, the firm changed its name to MAC Corp. As for growth, Kramer recalls—somewhat ironically—a statement by one scrap processor who was an early buyer of MAC auto crushers. “He felt that we were producing too many machines and warned us that 250 units would saturate the market,” he recounts. Fortunately, that processor was dead wrong. By now, Kramer estimates, close to 2,500 auto crushers have been sold, and the market isn’t close to being saturated.
Along the way, MAC also made several “excellent acquisitions,” Kramer says, specifically pointing to Saturn Shredders and Granutech. These operations diversified MAC beyond the car-crusher niche, thus expanding its business prospects.
A Career of Service
In addition to his careers in scrap processing and equipment manufacturing, Kramer had another career of sorts serving the industry’s associations.
For 30 years, he chaired the exhibitors committees of ReMA and its predecessor associations—ISIS and NARI. His tenure began with ISIS in 1971 when he cochaired the exhibitor committee with Terry Francis of Riverside Foundry, becoming sole chair when Francis fell ill. Kramer continued to serve in that position through 2002. Similarly, Kramer joined BIR in 1972 and was soon asked to chair its exhibition, a post he held from 1974-1984.
To this day, Kramer praises ReMA “as a vital force in the industry.” He says the equipment manufacturers “recognize ISRI’s focal power” and acknowledge that “they have to be involved in the activities of the association.”
Though Kramer no longer chairs the exhibitors committee, he keeps in touch with the industry by attending ReMA chapter meetings and by doing contract work under his Kramer Consultants shingle. “It’s a social pleasure to get together with scrap people,” he says. “Happy and I enjoy our trips to conventions and meetings, seeing old friends, talking to younger people who have come into the industry. It’s a vital part of our life, and we hope we can continue to do so.”
As he reflects on his lifetime in the scrap and equipment businesses, Kramer can’t help but recall the many important figures in his career. “Many industry people helped me, worked with me on association committees, and left an indelible imprint on my memory,” he says. Though he acknowledges that he “can’t list them all,” he feels compelled to mention a few like Sidney Danziger and Marvin Oliv, who “were such good friends,” he states. “Or Morrie Lipsett, who was wonderful to me. Or Morrie and Leonard Schnitzer on the West Coast. And, of course, Ernest Strauss, Hugo Neu’s nephew who was manager of the Prolerized-Neu shredding plant in Everett, Mass. Herschel Cutler was also a role model during my ReMA tenure.”
When it comes to important people in Kramer’s life, however, his wife Happy ranks at the top of the list. You can’t converse with Kramer for two minutes before he mentions Happy. Her real name, he explains, is Dolores, but her mother thought that name had a sorrowful sound because “dolor” means anguish or sorrow. So her mother called her Happy, or Hap, and that’s what she has been called ever since. Kramer and Happy met in high school and renewed their relationship in 1946, marrying in 1947. They have been a standout couple at industry meetings and conventions throughout the decades. In 1994, in fact, they were honored as the first couple—and first non-scrap processors—to receive the Israel Proler Award from ISRI’s Gulf Coast Chapter for their contributions to the scrap industry.
A Unique Perspective
From his vantage point as a former equipment manufacturer, Kramer is ideally suited to comment on equipment changes in the scrap field over the years.
“The sophistication of today’s shredders is the first thing I think of,” he replies. “The introduction of hydraulic cranes, the arrival of the big shears—all of that made a tremendous difference. But the use of the computer heralded the technology age—that became the backbone of our industry. It has affected both the scrap industry and the equipment industry.”
As always, he notes, the state of the scrap markets largely determines the health of the equipment industry. Fortunately, the scrap markets have been “phenomenal” in the past year, which has meant great times for equipment producers. Offering two examples of how good the equipment market is now, Kramer notes: “I’ve heard that shredder delivery is as far off as March 2006 and that it’s very difficult, sometimes impossible, to secure good used equipment.”
Looking ahead, Kramer sees a bullish future for the scrap industry. “Demand for scrap is worldwide,” he says, pointing to enormous economic development in China and India. “For the next five years, scrap should be an in-demand commodity and, as a result, there will be a concurrent demand for equipment.” If anyone would know, it would be Norm.
Notes on Norm
Born: May 31, 1924, in Chicago.
Education: Received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Roosevelt University (Chicago) in 1950.
Military Service: Served in a military intelligence unit from 1943-1946.
Family: Married Dolores “Happy” Sher in 1947. Two daughters—Linda, who lives in Jacksonville Beach, and Debra, who lives near Orlando—as well as four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Career: Entered the scrap business in 1947 by joining Englewood Iron & Metal Co. in Chicago, becoming its president in the 1950s. After that company closed, Kramer founded Mobile Auto Crushers Inc. in 1965 with Robert Flanagan, where he remained until his retirement in 1994.
Association Involvement: Participated in the ISIS Chicago Chapter. Served as chair of the exhibitors committees for ISIS, NARI, and ReMA from 1971-2002. Also chaired BIR’s exhibition group from 1974-1984.
Community Involvement: Active in the Jewish War Veterans, Temple Beth El—The Beaches Synagogue, while also serving as treasurer of his neighborhood homeowners association.
Hobbies: Travel (especially cruises), spending time with his great-grandchildren, working out, walking, and reading.
Si Wakesberg is New York bureau chief for Scrap.
Norm Kramer has been both a scrap processor and an equipment manufacturer in his long career. No wonder he knows “all the angles of the business,” as one friend puts it.